The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, will begin deploying Turkey’s advanced MEROPS surveillance system in Poland and Romania to guard against drone incursions from Russia, Euractiv reported.
The Multispectral Extended Range Optical Sight, or MEROPS air surveillance system, will be delivered to the two eastern front countries as Russia’s incursion into allied space increased in frequency in recent weeks. On September 10 and 13, Russian drones entered the national airspaces of Poland and Romania, respectively. Then, on September 19, three Russian jets entered Estonian airspace, triggering talks between NATO allies.
The repeated incursions have led NATO border states like the Baltics, Romania, and Poland to request a stronger military presence and increased alliance surveillance and defence capabilities.
Developed by Turkish defence contractor Aselsan, MEROPS can be mounted on helicopters and drones and is capable of detecting enemy systems through clouds and dust. It was first publicly presented in 2022, according to Euractiv.
Training on the system’s operation will begin with Ukraine’s support, starting as early as next week.
Drone incursions have been particularly difficult to tackle for Romania. The country still does not have a legal procedure to establish the chain of command for shooting down foreign missiles and manned military aircraft entering national airspace, according to G4media.ro.
The law, which was narrowly passed in May 2025 and challenged at the CCR by the extremist AUR party, stipulates that this chain of command must be approved by the Supreme Council for National Defence. To remedy that, president Nicușor Dan has convened a meeting of the CSAT for Thursday, September 25
(Photo source: M-sur | Dreamstime.com)
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